'In Madness We Trust'  Edition 19  Red Bull Romaniacs hard enduro rallye  July 26-30. 2022

Sibiu, Romania, 27 July 2022 - Gold class competitors were already lined up in the start at sunrise on day one of the Offroad days and took to the tracks at 07:00 hours. Track managers showed no mercy for these elite competitors who were quickly confronted with the signature section ‘Babysitter’ for the new LIVEmaniacs Live transmission stage. Gold class and F.I.M Hard Enduro World Championship competitors had to complete three stages of the ‘Babysitter’ section starting with a steep gnarly ‘rock garden’. Competitors were going into this blind, it had never previously been ridden and picking a line would be critical to prevent losing precious time and energy. From here they entered the forest where being a master at steep pivot turns would be essential to climb up to the ridge before dropping back down to start the next lap. The heat and dry tracks complicated things even more by creating slippery tracks and a lot of dust, restricting vision which made passing more risky.

Once the competitors completed the LIVEmaniacs stage they soon realised it was not about to get any easier, quite the opposite. The signature sections that lay ahead were relentless and today was going to prove to be an extremely intense day out there. The signature sections that followed were ‘No Sex’ ridge with a gnarly downhill into ‘Lost World’ which was slightly more flowing leading into the unforgiving ‘Kill ‘Em All’, ‘Perla’, ‘Gallindo’ and ‘Long Walk’ which, in the early years, used to be one of the hardest sections and now it is one of the faster ones which illustrates how the level and ability of hard enduro rallye competitors have evolved over recent years.

The silent assassin lived up to his name today. Graham Jarvis (GBR, Husqvarna) started in eleventh position and as his nickname suggests, he cunningly climbed like a mountain goat through all the extreme terrain, calmly pivoting his bike through the steep twists and turns until he made his way to the finish with the fastest time of the day. At 47 years old the elite athlete and king of the Carpathians is not going to give way easily to the young guns.  Jarvis reigns as the master of technical skills, setting the standards and paving the way for the next level of extreme hard enduro, which continues to push the bar higher each year.

Manuel Lettenbichler (DEU, KTM) was first onto the tracks, his strategy was to have a good aggressive start. After his second stage of the LIVEmaniacs he lost time due to changing his clutch which resulted in a penalty of two hours for outside help, due to FIM hard enduro championship regulations.

Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco) and Alfredo Gomez (ESP) waged a fierce battle as they fought against each other during the morning. Mario was on fire though and determined to reach his goal of occupying the top spot on the Red Bull Romaniacs podium. Physically Mario is at his peak and more mentally charged than ever to achieve this goal. Mario's times were not quite what he needed and he ended up with the fifth fastest time and Gomez was sixth.

Today was the day for the young guns, Teodor Kabakchiev (BGR, Husqvarna) had some stellar moments, fighting hard to get ahead and continually closing the gap on the leaders. He seemed not to be as affected by the dust and heat. The youngster made his mark by finishing with the second fastest time followed by Trystan Hart (CAN, KTM). Hart  found his groove early and gained ground on the top guns. He chose a different line through the rock section on ‘Babysitter’ which rewarded him with a fast time and was third to arrive in the service point after a sixth start position. Trystan has established himself as a distinguished hard enduro rider in the USA but this year is only his second attempt at Red Bull Romaniacs. Michael Walkner (AUS), Sonny Goggia (ITA), Matthew Green (ZAF) and David Cyprian (CZE) were all in the top 10 fastest times. The future generation is closing in on the veterans and proving to be a real threat, despite having less experience in the Romanian wilderness. 

The Gold class covered a total distance of 116 km today.

The Silver class were dealt a classic Romaniacs start to the Offroad days with some heavy technical sections. Competitors had to be vigilant not to lose valuable energy on the zig zag uphills until things eased up after the service point and it became faster. The final challenge for the day was right before the finish where the slippery, dry ground made it almost impossible to find traction and many riders chose to dismount their bikes to reach the bottom. 

The fastest times today were in first position Fabien Poirot (FRA), in second position Adam Giles (AUS), in third position Chris Birch (NZL).

The Silver class covered a total distance of 123 km today.

The Bronze class had a longer day today, covering 130 km, with a good combination of technical hard enduro and fast, flowing tracks. Competitors were able to take in some of the spectacular Romanian scenery as they covered some high alpine areas. Heat and dust hindered the wide open sections but non the less finishers were in high spirits at the finish. 

Matthias Walkner’s (AUT, KTM) navigated his 450cc rally factory Dakar motorcycle through the Bronze tracks seemingly effortlessly and appeared to be enjoying the new discipline of hard enduro rallye. Pol Tarres (AND) did not have the day he had hoped for and received an injury early after the start putting him out of the race. 

Matthias Walkner: “It was quite a tough day, I really enjoyed it. The beginning was tricky to follow the GPS so I had to follow the blue ribbons. I tried to find my rhythm with the GPS. It was slippery and some tracks were really narrow and with big downhills I also got stuck sometimes. I was really at my limit sometimes, I’m happy to finish the first day”
 
Iron covered 89 km today with a taste of Romaniacs up and downhills while Atom covered 84 km riding alongside Iron competitors in some stretches.

‘LIVEmaniacs stages’ will be streamed tomorrow at 07:00 - 09:00 (EEST) - Thursday July 28 Offroad Day 2. Gold class and F.I.M Hard Enduro World Championship competitors will complete 3 stages with live coverage and commentary with track description. 

In order to venture to new, undiscovered territory competitors along with press, media, service crews, supporters, spectators, family and friends will have an overnight stay at Rânca ski resort after Offroad Day 2.

Martin Freinademtz: "The first of the Offroad days was a success, it was dusty for the competitors but there weren't too many complaints, the competitors seemed to enjoy the tracks so it compensated. We were all really excited to have our new 'LIVEmaniacs stages' transmitted live for people around the world to really see what goes on out here in the Carpathian mountains and the level of the competitors and the hard enduro madness. It was really successful and we look forward to showing everyone the next LIVEmaniacs section tomorrow".

Photo FTP: gofile.me/5URjn/vflOoBpJT